Review of Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) by Gustavo B — 25 Aug 2016

I went to see this movie after having heard about FFJ on an NPR show- maybe This American Life or any of the 1000 knockoff shows. I enjoyed much of it. Meryl Streep was...Meryl Streep. She just blends into any role seamlessly.

As much as I dislike Hugh Grant and generally do not care for his movie either, his general everyday ambiguous smarminess totally work in this role. Simon Helberg was seriously great as Cosme McMoon. I loved his weirdness.

My beef with this movie was really 2 things- 1. The editing seemed off at some points. Just enough to make you wonder- was her head turned that way? Was his arm lifted? Little things that throw you off a bit.

2. My major issue was with the ending. No spoilers, but it was just too neat and tidy and a VERY Hollywood ending. A bit too melodramatic and formulaic. You'll know it when you see it. It's the other thing that grounds you back into reality after really getting into the movie.

All in all, it's a pleasant movie- maybe even one that makes you feel a little guilty about laughing at FFJ all these years later.